1 . Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a semiconductor device comprising providing a device with a monocrystalline semiconductor layer on an insulating layer.
2 . Description of the Related Technology
It is presently known to produce semiconductor devices on silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers or substrates. A problem however, may be formation of polycrystalline Si crystals during growing the silicon on the insulator. The formation of polycrystalline crystals can disrupt performance of transistors and other devices produced in the silicon layer on the insulator. In general, this is solved by providing one or more monocrystalline silicon seeds before growing the silicon layer. An example can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,162 . A recent development in the manufacture of semiconductor devices is the use of Solid Phase Epitaxial Regrowth (SPER). An example of SPER is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,682 . According to this prior art document SPER entails the heating of previously amorphized (or preamorphized) silicon within the range of 550° C. to 650° C. which causes the amorphized silicon to recrystallize to substantially uniform crystallized silicon.